Be on the lookout for a bear driving a pickup truck

The job title is misspelled on the shirt of a worker at the Quakertown Community… (Rob Gentieu, THE MORNING…)

June 17, 2014|Bill White

I'll begin this edition of bloopers with a wildlife story.

According to a newspaper police item, authorities were looking for a man who tried to lure girls into his car.

"He is described as between the ages of 40 and 50 with a brownish-red bear driving a black older model pickup truck with dents and scratches, police said."

I would think that would make him pretty easy to find. The reader wrote, "Who do you call, the police or the game warden?"

She added, "Kind of reminds me of an article several years ago that told of the local police out looking for an escaped boa constrictor. The news item reported that the cops were out in unmarked cars."

Hey, snakes are crafty.

I got several emails about a caption accompanying the compelling story about the Indianapolis 500 crash that killed driver Eddie Sachs.

It read, "Fire and bellowing smoke rise from the carnage of an accident that claimed the life's of Eddie Sachs and rookie driver Dave MacDonald at the start of the 1964 Indy 500."

Most of the readers who sent me this one focused on "life's," which stands out even more because of the unnecessary apostrophe. But what about bellowing smoke?

Smoke billows. It doesn't bellow.

A couple of people pointed out a recent ad for a local landscape nursery.

This is as good a place as any to address what one anonymous caller thought was a mistake in my column about a real Lehigh Valley Mount Rushmore, which included Bethlehem Steel's Eugene Grace. When I get calls like these, I always worry that other people out there are thinking the same thing.

I wrote: "It was Steel President Eugene Grace who really led the company to greatness as a huge supplier of arms for two world wars and through production of H-beams, essential in tall buildings."

The caller complained that Bethlehem Steel was known for I-beams, not H-beams.

It's true that the I-beam became the company logo. But the I-beam is a descendant of the wide-flanged H-beams that the company pioneered. So it wasn't a typo.

Another newspaper encouraged people to prepare care packages for a Summit Hill girl deployed in the Navy. It wrote that they could include "moral boosters such as letters, batteries, magazines and children's drawings."

The reader wrote, "Being a Navy vet I can understand the need for moral boosters while on liberty in foreign ports, but I think they meant morale."

Morale would be down at local hospitals if they were the death traps this news story implied: "Lehigh Valley hospitals showed mixed results in fighting infections and injuries — the kind of preventable medical errors that result in an estimated 1,000 daily deaths, a new survey of patient safety shows."

The reader who sent me this one wrote, "Inserting 'nationally' after 'deaths' would make the statistic more rational, though a lot less attention grabbing."

Another reader emailed me this sentence from a news story: "Bethlehem's new mayor will open his doors to the public every second Monday of the month."

The reader inquired, "How many second Mondays of the month are there? Should have read: 'the second Monday of every month.'"

I'll conclude with what can only be described as an epic disaster on a local newspaper website. It's a remarkably extended caption for a scenic file photo taken in the Poconos. It starts out fine as it describes the photo, but then it slowly descends into what look like someone's badly punctuated rough notes.

"… Fall is a great time of year to pack a lunch and drive through the Delaware Water Gap. The air is crisp, the color's are vibrant, and you may even see wildlife along the way. Take the last exit on rt.80 west. At theKittatiny Point Visitor's Center, pick up a map of the park. Just behind the visitor's Center there is a great view of the Gap. Following Old Mine Road (the oldest road in America), spectacular views of the Delaware River can be seen. there are many stops you can make along the wat through the Recreation AreA. Pahaquarry Mine where the first Dutch settler's mined for cooper, can be viewed by parkjing in the designated parking area, crossing the road, where an easy trail leads to the mine. Continueing on.Poxono Boat Launch is take a look at the river, and check out the color's. Further on, Van Campens Glen is great spot to hike . The trail leads through the glen where spectacular water fall's can be seen. Watergate Recreation Area is the spot to rest and have lunch. There are picnic tables ans a restroo at the sitre. After lunch,traveling on to Millbrook Village,where a self-guided tour leads through the early 1800's settlement. You can eathier continue on up the hill, where the Sussex County line, contiues your journey through the Recreation site, or, make your return to Rt.80 via Old Mine Road."